Chapter Five
You weren't visited by the voices immediately in your slumber. Instead, you were subjected to a series of flashing visions going through your mind. At first you were confused as to what was going on, but you eventually realized you were seeing through the eyes of another.
Red and black claws were pulling themselves over rocky surfaces, climbing steadily up the side of a mountain. It wasn't any mountain you knew or recognized in this land, and the way the terrain looked, you assumed it was far away and nowhere near any place you had seen before.
It moved with an unnatural speed as eventually everything came into a blur and you couldn't even catch a glimpse of any distinguishing factors anymore. It was like a rocket had been set off in an instant.
Eventually the blurring stopped and you could see exactly where the creature had arrived. He was at the top of the mountain, looking over all of Equestria. You could even catch a glimpse of Canterlot from the roost this thing had made.
“I look over this land everyday since we arrived.. and I imagine it burning..”
There was that unholy voice again. Chilling and demonic.
“We may wait for now, but eventually, the horn will sound for this land to be subject to our terror.” It laughed for a second, and then continued. “Human.. enjoy your time while you have it, as there will be nothing left when we begin our conquest.”
You woke in a cold sweat, the birds chirping outside as the sun had already broken into the morning sky and lit your room through the window. You crawled out of a bed and wiped your face free of the perspiration.
Terror gripped you as you knew that it wasn't just a dream. It was a vision. You could see what they could see, and you still didn't know exactly what these things were. You wondered if they could see through your eyes as well, but pushed that notion to the back of your head. That would only cause you more headache, you were sure.
You stood up and looked out the window into the city below. Everything was at risk, all of it. But if Celestia really didn't believe you then what hope did you have in stopping this? You felt like a helpless kitten, unable to differ or detract anything or anyone.
You kept telling yourself you had to try. You didn't leave your world to watch another one burn. You eventually broke your gaze from the outside world and headed towards your door, opening it swiftly and heading out without checking for anyone and found yourself bumping into someone.
“Oh I'm sorry!” A voice apologized.
You were quick to take the blame on yourself for causing the collision. You were, after all, the one that hadn't been looking. You caught yourself in mid-sentence as you recognized who you had just bumped into.
Twilight Sparkle, one of the Mane Six, stood before you, surrounded by a plethora of writing material and other novelties floating about her.
She looked as nervous as you, but unlike how you were feeling, extreme interest marked her eyes. You opened your mouth to say something, but she was the first to begin the inevitable conversation.
“Greetings.” She said, obviously a bit on edge. “I apologize for waiting outside your door at such an early time, but I..” She caught herself “Celestia requested I learn as much as I can from you about your kind.”
You felt like your personal space had been invaded slightly. Why would anyone wait outside someone's door until they woke up? You sighed as you reminded yourself that you should have known better, especially regarding Twilight.
She seemed to notice you were deep in thought and quickly slipped by you into your room, to your protest.
“Do we have to do this right now?” You asked sleepily.
“Well, what other time would you prefer?” She answered back placing her materials down upon your bed.
You grumbled something about never but kept it to yourself. Your stomach was all knotted up in nervousness as you kept telling yourself you were talking to one of your favorite ponies on the show. You weren't sure you really had it in you to interact with anyone like that yet.
You were fighting with your inner feelings when a thought came to you. Perhaps Twilight would believe your insane story? It was worth a shot, and the worse you could probably get was the same reaction you had received from Celestia.
Unfortunately, your question never was brought up as Twilight began to overwhelm you with an onslaught of her own questions.
First it went from your name, to your habits, then your life style, your world and the people around you, and your progress as a race. She seemed awestruck when you described such a mundane to you, such as the television, or your computer.
“It sounds like you have a lot of magic in your life.” Twilight said, still stuck in fascination.
“It's no magic, I assure you.” You returned.
After a few more questions, you noticed that your nervous feeling had faded away and you were more comfortable talking to the little purple unicorn. She seemed to be coping with your presence better herself and the flow of conversation came more smoothly.
You never thought this would be how you met Twilight (then again, you never thought you'd meet her,) but you never thought you'd be having a comfortable little chat with her within your guest quarters.
You almost forgot what you were going to ask her, but caught yourself just in time between one of her sentences.
“Hold on.” You said with grimness. “There's something I need to tell you.”
“Oh, okay?” She simply said, waiting for your words to come.
You told your predicament in the same words you used the day previous with Celestia. Unlike with Celestia, however, Twilight seemed to find every word you said gripping. You finally felt like you were getting somewhere with your plight now.
After you finished, you exhaled a long sigh. You were never that great when it came to describing and explaining but you thought you had done a well enough job with Twilight.
“How long do you think until these 'things' march on Equestria?” Twilight asked, her voice tinged with concern.
“I don't know..” You admitted.
“Are you sure they didn't say anything about when this was going to happen?” She pressed on.
You dug to the inner recesses of your mind, trying to think of all the voices had said since you were linked to them. The only word regarding time you could remember was 'soon.'
You shook your head sadly, telling Twilight that you had no idea when they were going to go through with this invasion outside of the estimation of 'soon.'
“We should tell Celestia about this!” Twilight stood up, already ready to hurry to the throne room.
“I tried already.” You explained. “I don't think she believed me.”
“That doesn't sound like something Celestia would do...” Twilight muttered, putting a hoof to her chin.
“I think it's because I'm a human.”
“Maybe..” Twilight seemed a bit disturbed. “I still think we should tell her this. Perhaps coming from me will help her see past this.”
“I suppose..” You said to yourself.
Twilight rushed out of your quarters before you could say anything else and you were quickly following in pursuit.
You couldn't believe she believed you. You knew she was paranoid, but to think she would believe a strange creature she had just met was a surprise. You sure hoped that Celestia would believe you now that you had her faithful student on your side.
You almost got lost several times in the hall as you realized how much faster running on all fours was compared to your bipedal nature. You may have the advantage in the stamina department, but ponies were overall much quicker than you.
At one time you did find yourself to be lost, but a helpful guard pointed you towards the right direction within the castle. You nodded graciously and continued after her, huffing and puffing, deciding that you hated running.
You nearly tripped into the throne room, where Twilight was already discussing the issue with Celestia. Everyone within the throne room turned to look at you as you shuffled over by Twilight, where you both under the thoughtful gaze of Celestia.
“Do you really believe this to be true, Twilight?” Celestia asked after a moment.
“He seems very sincere, princess. I don't see why he would lie to us.” Twilight said, giving you a side glance.
“If you really believe this human, then I shall do what needs to be done in accordance to national security.” Celestia finally said. “I will have troops dispatched to the borders of Equestria, immediately.”
Some of the guards within the throne room grunted and sighed audibly. They obviously weren't happy at the news. None gave you a glare, however, as you turned to look over them.
“Human.” Celestia's voice called. “I trust my student's judgment. I hope you don't prove to have misplaced her trust.”
You nodded with a lump in your throat. “Of course.”
“Very well. Make your leave.”
As you turned to walk back to your quarters alone, pondering why Celestia seemed so bitter (and more importantly, how the hell you were going to find your way back in this god forsaken maze they called a castle,) you found Twilight trotting along at your side.
“She seems a tad bit irritated, don't you think?” she asked, her face showing concern for her esteemed teacher.
“Yes, this isn't usually how she acts.” You said, only just realizing what had come from your lips until it was too late.
“I thought you had met her only a few days back?” Twilight asked, suspicious.
“I did!” You quickly tried to fix the mistake you had just made. “She had just seemed so uncomfortable like that is all, so I assumed she doesn't usually act so uptight.”
“Oh, okay.”
You were glad that at least something was being done about this issue now, and you could rest easy knowing you had made an effort at finding a solution to the problem. Maybe now you could enjoy your time here in Equestria to its fullest.
You followed Twilight back to your room, where she surprisingly reentered, apparently expecting you to talk to her about matters longer. You were sure your business had been done with her, and you seemed reluctant to go on talking any longer.
She seemed to notice your surprise. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, yes.” You assured her, taking a seat on your bedside.
“Are you sure? I can go if this is not a favorable time to continue our talking?” She asked reluctantly. She seemed almost like she didn't want to go.
“It's fine.” You finally said with a huff.
Your talk continued on for several hours, and you eventually found yourself the one asking questions about her and her land. You learned a lot, more than you could have hoped from a wikia page on the internet or anything like that. Learning was quite the leisure activity if you having a good time doing it.
You truly found yourself interested in what she had to say. You learned about the history of Equestria and the nature of magic in the land. She even told you about her friends back in Ponyville, which pleased you greatly just hearing about it.
As night came you still found yourselves talking and discussing things about you, such as your favorite things to do and such. You knew most of what she liked already, but it wasn't bad hearing her describe herself to you. It was like getting to know her all over again.
You stared out the window, looking over the lit streets of Canterlot. You wondered how long you would actually be staying here. You hoped it was for awhile, you weren't sure you ever wanted to leave. The lack of the technology hadn't bothered you yet, you reminded yourself, so it was only a matter of times until you felt yourself longing to listen to your favorite song or play one of your games. Maybe then, you would feel the need for change. But until then, you were going to enjoy as much as you could.
“I suppose I should get going.” Twilight finally said, lifting all her equipment with the magic from her horn.
“I think I have the information I'm going to get on humanity, already.” She said with regret. “But I am in town for a few more days before I head back to my home in Ponyville. Maybe we can have another chat like this again?” She suggested hopefully.
“Sure.” You answered back.
She gave a sheepish smile and blushed profusely as she realized what she had just said. She quickly shuffled out of your room, careful not to knock any of her things within her magical grip into any of the walls.
You heard the soft click of the door closing, you laid back, trying to wrap your head around what had just happened.
Days seemed to be going by fairly quick in the castle, and everything seemed to be to your liking so far. You were afraid to go to sleep, however. For you knew that those voices and images would come back. You sure hoped that Celestia would solve this problem so you could really put this out of your head.
Would that really be the end of it, though?